BBC is reporting that another mass grave has been discovered in Poland, this time on the western front:
The remains of more than 2,000 people discovered in Poland’s largest mass grave from World War II have been reburied in a military cemetery … in north-west Poland, near the border between the countries.
The victims are believed to be German civilians who died in the last months of the conflict, in early 1945.
The mass grave was discovered in the Polish city of Malbork last October.
Because no-one was prepared to pay for expensive DNA testing, the historians’ best guess is that the victims were German civilians caught up in the Red Army’s assault on the city.
At the time Malbork was Marienberg, a German city.
Incidentally, I watched the Polish movie Katyn last night. It’s about the Katyn Forest Massacre of Polish officers by the Red Army.
The bodies were buried in mass graves in the forest and the affair was blamed on the Nazis. The Soviets finally admitted responsibility in 1990.
While there is some amount of exaggeration in any film adaption, director Andrzej Wajda has done a wonderful job exposing the hypocrisy of the Soviets, and the pain and agony of the masacred Polish officers’ families. The last few scenes showing the actual massacre are both horrifying and touching. You can connect with the Poles in the movie.
The one complaint I have about the movie is that all Russians are shown to be heartless and almost inhuman. I can understand the Polish perspective, but I am sure at least some of the Soviet officers were sympathetic. Wajda doesn’t show the Russian side at all.
